In the Dark of the Night
by silverphoenix00
Summary: A bitter cold crept underneath a moonless sky as a curtain of winter frost drew elegant patterns along smooth glass. The sharp chill of the air burned the boy laying rigid underneath his blanket, sending violent shivers through his body as the sheets leached warmth from him like a parasite.


A bitter cold crept underneath a moonless sky as a curtain of winter frost drew elegant patterns along smooth glass. The sharp chill of the air burned the boy laying rigid underneath his blanket, sending violent shivers through his body as the sheets leached warmth from him like a parasite. Stiff with fear, the boy could feel his heart beating with the roar of a thousand drums; hammering at the inside of his ribcage, clawing and begging for a way out.

In the sky, the moon had disappeared, leaving behind a still, hangman's silence in its wake. Nothing dared to move or breath, not even the boy, casting the illusion that time itself had stopped and the Earth had ceased to spin, cementing the frightening scene in a still picture of fear.

The boy's eyes diligently scanned the shadows, frantically trying to catch every movement and hearing every creak of the old house.

There was something there.

He knew there was.

Something lurking.

Something hidden.

Something…sinister.

But he didn't know what.

Maybe the shadows themselves were the beasts that haunted his conscience. Would they reach out and get him or do nothing but stay perfectly stretched along the wall? They were tormenting him, they had to be; they liked watching his eyes widen in fear when he thought he saw something move out of the corner of his eye or when his ears picked up the faintest sound from outside his door. The shadows were coming to get him, coming to hurt him, and he couldn't do anything but lie still and wait – unsure if he'd be able to scream when the time came, if the time came at all.

The shadows did move, though, inch by inch; so slowly that no one really noticed the change until they had already disappeared from sight. They were good at that, hiding in plain sight. The boy gripped his covers with white knuckles, watching the skeletal shadows casting themselves along the wall. Its branching fingers reached out in broken lines, like cracks across the smooth surface - watching over him, waiting for him to fall asleep so that they could suffocate him, swallow him whole.

He felt like crying, but he wouldn't. He couldn't. Because he knew, logically, that the darkness was nothing to fear and that shadows definitely do not move.

But he also knew that there was no moon in the sky and that, by extension, no light shown through his window. There shouldn't be any shadows to hurt him if the light was gone. Yet, there were. Shadows that crept along the walls and onto the floors. Shadows that clawed at his sheets and took home under his bed. Shadows that did want to hurt him. Shadows that clawed at him and sunk into him, suffocating him and drawing out every bit of light and life it could from his soul. The darkness would leave him as nothing more than a hollow shell, seeping into him and surrounding him, becoming a part of him, occupying every atom in his being.

He would become nothing. Nothing more than the darkness and the shadows and the inexplicable emptiness of an endless chasm, crushing him into nothing, squeezing him until he couldn't breathe, drowning him in the pure void.

And he was alone. Alone and suffocating and so, so alone.

Nico di Angelo woke up in a cold sweat, the fabric of his sheets sticking to his skin and the bitter air of the night nipping mercilessly at him. His breath was heavy and his chest heaving, his heart thumping rapidly in his chest, paralleling the boy in his dreams with every pump of his heart.

Nico's brown eyes scanned the darkness in the room, searching desperately for any source of light. Anything, anything to make the darkness go away. Then, something shifted beside him, drawing his attention to the glowing blonde strands now peeking out of the covers. A soft golden light illuminating the soft curves of the covers and chasing away the darkness around them.

The pounding in Nico's chest slowed at the sight and his breathing evened out the more the glow seemed to shine. Will Solace slept soundly, unaware of the awoken Son of Hades next to him.

A dream , Nico thought, just a dream .

Sinking back into the bed and pulling the sheets back over the cover, Nico tucked himself into Will, soaking in the warmth to fight off the cold chill of the air. Heat radiated through him, swirling in his chest and spreading through his body, thick and constant and warm in his veins. Will shifted in response to his movement, taking Nico in his arms while still sleeping soundly.

A smile graced its way onto Nico's face as relief ran through him like a steady stream.

Nimble fingers brushed Will's hair out of his eyes, his blonde strands shimmering in the dark and casting low, golden rays of light onto Nico.

Sleep began to tug gently at Nico, like an insistent hum of a musical chord or a tug of a string trying to lead him along. Brown eyes drooped as a warm haze washed over him. Soon enough, Nico was back in a deep sleep, lulled by Will's heat and comfort.

At the first sign of sunrise, Will himself woke. His blue eyes lit with the cresting colors of a new day, coming to rest on the mop of black hair resting on his shoulder. A blinding smile painted itself on Will's face, caused by the early morning sight of his boyfriend, and a subtle warmth bloomed deep in his chest.

Outside, the sky lit to reveal a pure crystal blue as sunlight casted itself down onto the quiet grounds of Camp Half-blood. The Hades cabin was no exception, rays of sunlight filtering through the window to chase away the dark shadows that dared to lurk there.

When the sun was well overhead, Will pressed a tender kiss onto Nico's forehead, reluctant to wake him but knowing that leaving him to sleep would result in him never leaving the bed.

"Nico," Will hummed lowly, raising his voice just enough to pull Nico from his sleep and into the waking world. Will ran his fingers along the expanse of Nico's back, deciding to repeat himself louder when his first call received no response, "Nico."

An exhausted hum answered him, Nico's chest steadily rumbling on top of him as he shifted, nuzzling his face deeper into Will's neck in an effort to fight off his attempt.

"Good morning, beautiful," Will greeted at the first sign of life, running fingers through Nico's black, tangled strands.

The words tugged a smile onto his face, banishing any thought or sign of the shadows that had haunted Nico in his dreams and consistently crept along the edges of his consciousness.

And, for the first time in a long time, he wasn't afraid of disappearing.

* * *

This was something I wrote a long, long, long time ago and completely forgot to publish. I hope you enjoy!


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